Opinion: In This Social Media Tug Of War, We’re Turning A Blind Eye To Reality

Farmers’ Protest in India is what détente was in the Cold War. Just like détente was thrown out the window when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan, Farmers’ Protest was thrown out the window because of the Tug of War battle between the Liberals and the Bhakts. Let’s be honest, both sides are at fault and the farmers’ protest on social media has become a convoluted mess thanks to both sides’ reckless behaviour.

So what was the reason that the Social Media went DEFCON 1 mode? Rihanna’s Tweet, Greta’s Tweet, Amanda Cerney’s Tweet, Mia Khalifa’s Tweet, Lilly Singh’s Tweet and the list goes on. People in our country lost their jimmies because few foreign celebrities tweeted in support of the Farmer’s protest. Is this where the world has come to? Is this how we have stooped so low just because few foreigners tweeted? And the way the Bhakts responded to it is so downright pathetic that I feel like, there’s Arnab Goswami in all of us.

https://twitter.com/KanganaTeam/status/1356640083546406913

Anyway, of course, Kangana responded, in the most Kangana way. By trying to put herself on the pedestal and then there’s Diljeet trying to “Kangana” in the most epic way as if he just won a Fortnite match. Honestly, they’re just two grown people fighting like children. What more can I say. The media is just making a fool of themselves by making outrageous news about Rihanna or Mia Khalifa.

The Bhakts are just making assumptions that Mia Khalifa and Rihanna’s opinion could do anything and if anyone supports their mere opinions, then they’re anti-national. I don’t get it, Sedition Law has been misused like a 12-year-old misusing his freedom while swearing on Minecraft.

And when a someone makes a critique on the government (or call out Carryminati for his horrendous hypocrisies) they just go out and call out names anti-national, liberandu, pseudo-intellectuals and liberals (the liberals do the same thing with Bhakts by calling them names like IT Cell, Andh-Bhakt, Chaiwala and stuff like that). The Bhakts are just attacking these celebrities for no reason other than the fact that they committed a crime of giving their opinions. What is this? Orwell’s 1984? Where thinking or speaking something different which is against the status quo is a crime.

The Twitter Storm That Unleashed

Then again people who are cheering on foreign celebs giving their opinions on Farmers’ protest aren’t in no place to talk about it either. Amanda Cerney literally begged for followers on Twitch, Lilly Singh has been criticised for having hypocritical political opinions and Greta “How Dare You” Thunberg who loves to lecture about climate change has been criticised for travelling on yachts and planes that produce harmful carbon emission alongside her hypocritical Hollywood Celebrity Friends.

Look, if we’re offended over their mere tweets, then it goes to show how thin-skinned we all are. And the celebs who responded to Rihanna by stating that it’s an “internal matter” or “matter of sovereignty”, I feel that tweeting at a time like this is out of poor taste and it will create a backlash. But then the liberals started attacking them on social media by saying that they are spineless and they are sellouts and more such. I can understand raging at Bollywood celebrities like Akshay Kumar and Ajay Devgan since they love to lecture on patriotism in their movies just to make some quick buck out of it but some of the celebrities like Virat Kohli, Sachin Tendulkar, Anil Kumble, Saina Nehwal etc. have actually represented India in their respective fields in sports.

They’ve won world cups and championships making our country proud. I know their opinions are trash, out of touch and above all tone-deaf, but don’t just go out and question their commitment to their country just because they supported the government. It’s really hypocritical for the liberal mob to attack these Bollywood and sports celebs but soon they’ll forget about it and watch their movies or cheer them at the stadium. (The same people they’re crapping at)

That being said, our home celebrities are in no place to talk about Farmers’ Protest as well. Every Bollywood celeb was voicing out their opinions during the BLM Protest in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death or the riots that took place in the Capitol Building in the US last month. But when the farmers’ protest got escalated, they remained silent like Solid Snake when he is in stealth mission in Metal Gear Solid.

Celebrities And Idol Worship

So, I can say that we need to stop putting every celebrity, whether Indian or foreign, on a pedestal. The idol worshipping in India is so abysmal that even Gordon Ramsay would feel like something is fishy about the idol culture. When some controversy stirs up all of a sudden, people just go on banshee mode and try to deny it. But sooner or later, they’ll come to terms with it. Coolie No. 1 is the perfect example. With the rise of OTT platforms during the Covid-19 Lockdown, people have realised about Bollywood’s decline in quality in their movies.

We’re just as toxic as the weeaboos or K-pop stans but we’re obsessed with cricketers and Bollywood celebs. Also, I think that western celebrities like Greta and Amanda shouldn’t be put up on a pedestal either for above-mentioned reasons.

I think I’ve talked a lot about outrage culture, bhedchaal mentality and online mob mentality in India on this platform and on others as well. But to reiterate it, what I’ve said is that people who outrage over the smallest of thing have no idea what they are even talking about in the first place. Look what happened to Subham Mishra, he literally sent a rape threat to Agrima Joshua over a 2-year-old joke and he claims he’s doing it in for Shivaji Maharaj even if he doesn’t know anything about his principles. And both sides are just on a selective outrage mode at this point. They cry on one thing and they are silent on the next.

So this is what’s happening on social media right now. Both the liberals and the bhakts want to outrage over some tweets. The reason is simple, they just want to undermine one another. That’s what it is. They’re just arguing about who is right and who is wrong. Things are getting very spicy and the two sides are just arguing like crying kids. Both sides don’t even know the name of the 3 laws and why the farmers are protesting it and they want to lecture whether the farmers are the victims of the terrorist which in my opinion is just sickening.

The mob attacking Sachin Tendulkar, Rihanna or any celebrity for that matter should understand that there are people too and they have a right to express their views regarding sensitive subject matter whether they’re Indian or International. Personally, I believe that a celebrity’s opinion should not matter. But since that is not really the case, the best-case scenario, in this case, is either to ignore it or just whine about it.

Threatening anyone is just plain illegal and out of the option at all. In any case, people raging on tweets goes to show how low our tolerance level has become. We get offended so easily over a simple opinion or a joke. Some even made it a business to rage on things that shouldn’t have been mattered in the first place just for clout, attention and money. But that’s how low that bar has been set. The Liberals and Bhakts have this delusion of grandeur as they think that going at each other’s throat means something to their cause. But I know they’re both wrongs because they’ve turned their backs on the people and culture they were supposed to defend when it comes to fame and money. If the Bhakts are the Gestapo, then the Liberals are the NKVD.

That being said, I believe that the recent laws are just plain terrible and way the government’s showing an invisible middle finger to the farmers, as well as the violent clashes between the farmers and the police, shows a huge disconnect between the farmers and the government (I won’t be naming any political parties because I don’t want to get lynched by any party member or the mob for that matter).

At the same time, I am disillusioned that people who are talking about it in social media are just arguing like a PUBG match is going on while turning a blind eye on what is really going on. What’s makes me even sadder that we are fickle-minded and within a few months or weeks time, once a new controversy stirs everyone will forget about the current one. And I’m afraid that’s what’s going to happen sooner or later. It’s things like this that makes me want to be out of touch.

P.S: People have a lot of free time to talk about a lot of things and celebrities who love to give their opinions either are doing this for attention/clout or they genuinely care about the certain subject matter. In most cases (the aftermath of Sushant’s case), I think it’s the former.